Mumbai: Weary of BMC’s delay, hawkers seek central minister’s intervention

Hawkers were promised a provisional licence if they took loans under the PM SVANidhi scheme. The civic body prepared a list of 32,000 hawkers this year for election of members to a town vending committee

Hawkers from the city will meet the union minister for housing and urban affairs on Thursday over the civic body's delay in granting hawkers' licences. Some hawkers, after repaying loans of Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000 under a central scheme, have applied for loans worth Rs 50,000 each, in the hope that they would get licences. However, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has not sent the hawkers' voters' list to the concerned authority to elect the new town vending committee, thereby delaying the process.

Even as hawkers protest the crawling pace of the licencing process, their presence on the city's roads and footpaths is considered a nuisance by pedestrians.

Loan for licence

Chunnulal Gupta, a fruit juice vendor in Andheri East, said that he has applied for a R50,000 loan under the PM SVANidhi (PM Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi) scheme. "I have been selling juice here for the past 40 years. After the COVID-19 pandemic, BMC employees told me repeatedly to take a Rs 10,000 loan, though I didn't need it. But the officials said that I would get a provisional hawker's licence if I took the loan. I took the Rs 10,000 loan, repaid it, then took a Rs 20,000 loan and repaid it. But I haven't received a licence. Now I will take a Rs 50,000 loan so that there is no issue in getting a licence. Moreover, the BMC and police take action against us hawkers regularly, fining us for throwing garbage. Who will question the authorities' actions?" said Chunnulal Gupta.

Radheshyam Kashyap, a panipuri vendor in MIDC, narrated the same story. "Having repaid two loans under the PM scheme, I will apply for a Rs 50,000 loan so that there is no issue in getting the hawkers' licence. Though I have a provisional vending certificate, the BMC and police do not accept it. They take action now and then to extort money," said Kashyap. He added that the process of allotting licences has been dragging for almost a decade. "Sometimes I feel that the licences won't be implemented in my lifetime," Kashyap said.

BMC, police racket

The hawkers plan to approach a central minister. "The BMC and police do not want hawkers to be legalised as extorting money from them is a big racket. We invited Hardeep Singh Puri, union minister for Housing & Urban Affairs, to discuss the issue. He will attend our meeting on Thursday, November 23, at Rangsharda auditorium in Bandra West. We hope that it leads to a solution," said Dayashankar Singh, founder, Azad Hawkers Union. Gurunath Sawant, programme manager of the National Association of Street Vendors of India, questioned how they are to repay the PM SVANidhi loan if the civic body does not let them operate. "Police act against even those with a provisional vendor certificate. We will present all the issues to the union minister," Sawant said.

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BMC's Oct meet

Meanwhile, in a meeting on October 27, the BMC's town vending committee decided to submit a voter list to the state labour commissioner for the election of a new committee. However, the BMC hasn't forwarded the list yet due to Diwali vacation.

The Parliament passed the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood & Regulation of Street Vending) Act in 2014, following a Supreme Court (SC) order. Around 14,970 hawkers received licences in the 1970s. When the BMC started a survey in 2016, they had identified and distributed forms to 1.28 lakh hawkers, of which 99,435 submitted applications with relevant documents. In 2023, the BMC finalised a list of 32,000 hawkers for election of members to a town vending committee. The committee is an important part of the hawkers' policy as it allotts licences to hawkers and manages overall regulation in the city.

2014
Year Parliament passed the Street Vendors Act